T-35 - Here we go!

This morning's weigh-in - 97.2, 97.7, 99.0 kilos. All downward from yesterday!

Right, today - Brighton, here I come :)

A tale of three cities

I left Royston on the 0902 26 to Cambridge, and initially went north to Cambridge – well, Trumpington Park & Ride. As I waited for the coach to London, I spotted ST 52 GZD, the former Travel Dundee Volvo/Plaxton that I spotted on Monday…


… and shortly after, my coach heading south turned up – Burton’s Volvo/Plaxton YN 54 DDO, on NatEx Service 010. The coach got in a few minutes late, and left later following a driver change. Despite no roadworks or congestion on the way south, we got to Aldgate twenty minutes late, and left a further five minutes down after the second driver change in the one journey! It was only because of roadworks in Westminster that a few minutes were recovered, and we pulled into London Victoria coach station arrivals in time for me to cross over to the Greenline terminal for the Megabus coach to Brighton & Worthing, which was Volvo/ Jonckheere 52658.


There was a loose panel above the drivers door…


… and we were also held up in congestion on the way south. Of course, any bus to Brighton is going to have this issue, as there are no main roads to use, and the roads making up the A23 are a series of congestion hot-spots. This route is non-stop from London to Sussex University (which we didn’t need to serve, as no-one wanted dropped there), Brighton London Road near St Peters Church, then Pool Valley Coach Station and Worthing Depot/Marine Parade only. We ended up at PV a few minutes before the scheduled arrival of 1500, and this gave me a couple of hours to explore the city centre.

I spotted that the adverts for Caroline’s diet plan had made it to the outside of the buses around here…


… and I did an almost upside-down “&” sign, as I walked via North Street ,Clock Tower, Churchill Square (turned back at the foot of Dyke Road), Queens Road, Rail Station, West Street, and some of The Lanes, before ending back at Pool Valley. Some of the things I saw included new operator The Big Lemon’s Leyland Olympian at Queens Road/Clock Tower…


… a Brighton & Hove Metro25 branded Scania on the 22 to Woodingdean… seen laying over at Dyke Road/Churchill Square…


… the Clock Tower itself…


… the view from Queens Road stretches along the coast… taken through the buildings…


… the rebuilding of the Millie’s store at Brighton Station lead to this ‘interesting’ pun-on-a-sign…


… and the bus (52658 again – with loose interior panel fixed) arrived to take us back to London at 1700...


… we left on time, and even had some time to sit at Sussex University before departure! The driver left town via the single-carriageway Devils Dyke Road, but this afforded some excellent views across the Downs… (taken through a tinted coach window)


… this driver drove in via a slightly different route i.e. Clapham Common and Wandsworth Road – which allowed us to arrive a few minutes ahead of time too. This allowed me enough time to cross over to the coach station… and I spotted an out-of-date One Day Travelcard, almost in mint condition for being out of date… gave it to the ticket touts… and even got a ‘thank you’… he won’t be so polite when he realises he can’t flog it! Hey hey! Anyway, this Burtons driver (similar YN 54 DDJ this time) was much nicer, and knew a much quicker route out of Stratford onto the M11. We saved so much time, that I managed to arrive at Trumpington before Caroline got there to pick me up!

You can see all today's pics here. Today was lots of miles, lots of fun – slightly tired now. Work tomorrow!